Cognitive Web Accessibility: Research 2004

Computers Helping People with Special Needs
Proceedings from the 9th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs (ICCHP), July 2004. The ICCHP is "a scientific conference presenting and discussing reviewed papers published in SPRINGER Lecture Notes in Computer Science".
Website usability: Evaluation to accommodate the needs of individuals with traumatic brain injury
"Study evaluated the accessibility and usability of the Brain Injury Association of Colorado website. Researchers videotaped sessions of people with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI) as they navigated the website and provided verbal comments. They also viewed tapes of people with TBI a second time to record observed difficulties navigating the website."
Usability evaluation involving participants with cognitive disabilities
"Our study shows a need to collect data with several complementary methods, and to adjust the methods to suit the characteristics of the participants. Without observational methods, many usability problems would have been missed."
Technology Use by Students with Intellectual Disabilities: An Overview
"This article overviews technology use by students with intellectual disabilities, with a particular focus on electronic and information technologies, such as computers ..." and the Internet.
Internet-based multimedia tests and surveys for individuals with intellectual disabilities
"This brief report provides results of a pilot test of an Internet-based multimedia testing and assessment system employing audio, video, and picture supports to enable individuals with intellectual disabilities to more independently complete online tests and assessments."
Learning from Internet Requirements of People with Communication Needs
"A supportive Web browser, developed by the EU WWAAC project, aims to make the Internet easier to use by people with complex communication needs who use graphic symbol-based augmentative and alternative communication. Further user consultations with older users, people with aphasia and people with learning disabilities, specifically with dyslexia, have demonstrated that the ability to personalize Internet software ...can potentially provide more accessible and usable interfaces for other user groups."
The Design of Spoken Music Web Browser for Teaching Learning-Disabled Children: A Chevé System Approach to Music Notation
"We have developed a Spoken Music Web Browser which incorporates Chevé system, a system of musical notation with the idea of indicating notes by numbers, to bridge the gap between the cognition of learning-disabled children and music notation."
Evaluations of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Training Programme for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities
"The main features of the programme were a specially designed training curriculum with software designed in appropriate language and appropriate levels for people with intellectual disabilities. In the training programme, participants were taught about the operations of mouse and keyboard and browsing the Internet using Internet Explorer (IE)."
Neuropsychological Function for Accessibility of Computer Program for People with Mental Retardation
"This study was investigated the neuropsychological functions which are important for enhancing the competence of people with mental retardation to operate on the Internet Explorer (IE) program."
Automatic Modification of Text for People with Learning Disabilities Using Internet Services
"The paper presents the results of a user study that investigates the applicability of automatic text modifications to support learning disabled people in text comprehension while browsing the Internet. It presents some results that contradict traditional beliefs in regard to better support reading in this target group by providing them with screen readers."
Computer-Mediated, Self-Directed Computer Training and Skill Assessment for Individuals with Mental Retardation
"This study examined use of a multimedia software program designed for self-directed computer training and skill assessment for adults with mental retardation." The implications of this study apply to any similar training that is Web-based.
WebAIM: User Needs and e-Government Accessibility: The Future Impact of WCAG 2.0
"The implications of WCAG 2.0 for eGovernment sites in two nations, the United States of America and Australia, are considered. While the needs of all users are important when determining accessibility and usability requirements of sites, the particular needs of people with cognitive impairments are considered in greater detail, as an example to designers that people with disabilities are a heterogeneous group, where one solution does not fit all."
WebAIM: Toward User-Centered, Scenario-Based Planning and Evaluation Tools
"Existing Web accessibility evaluation tools are only capable of providing feedback within the context of individual Web pages. This short-sighted approach produces a fractured and fragmentary assessment of the accessibility of the Web site as a whole. A more effective, holistic alternative is to focus on scenarios of user interactions across Web pages, taking into account user characteristics, and focusing on models and patterns."
Web Usability - An Accessibility Frontier: Cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties
"The aim of this paper is to offer some ideas on how websites might more effectively meet the needs of people with cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties."
WebAIM: Cognitive Disabilities Part 2 - Conceptualizing Design Considerations
Discusses definition of cognitive disability and general, functional deficits. Cites references.
WebAIM: Cognitive Disabilities Part 1 - We Still Know Too Little, and We Do Even Less
Includes "Recommendations for Making Web Content Accessible to People with Cognitive Disabilities" and references.
How people with developmental disabilities navigate the Internet; British Journal of Special Education
Seven people with mild- to moderate developmental disabilities were observed as they navigated Web pages. Described are their strategies for moving within and between Web pages and for searching.
Web-Based Assistive Technology Interventions for Cognitive Impairments After Traumatic Brain Injury: A Selective Review and Two Case Studies
# 1 evaluated using a Compaq PDA with Web pages providing assistance during a walking task. # 2 added a wireless network to ease researcher/respondent interactions while participants set an alarm clock. Conclusion: Web-based interventions could be used by people with TBI.